Reinventing the Millennium

The battle for communications patents is rife with smoke, which did not delay Yusanjia's hot sales in November. With the analysis of professionals from all walks of life, more information behind this dispute has been exposed.

It is rumored that although Intel did not participate in the prosecution of Qualcomm, it sent a number of executives to visit Yiko, Apple and Samsung one by one, hoping to change the pattern of the patent market. Samsung's purchase of Intel's baseband chips is obviously very popular with it. Impact.

In addition, Qualcomm entered into new negotiations with Apple this year, requiring an increase in patent fees and an additional $10 per phone, which made Cook furious.

On the one hand, there are frequent verbal disputes between company bosses, and on the other hand, there are patent lawsuits between companies. This is also accompanied by the fluctuation of the market value of tens of billions of dollars. The storm at the end of 2013 made many people quite satisfied. .

The new situation on November 27 added spice to everyone’s enjoyment. The California District Court made a ruling on the patent lawsuit between Apple and Samsung, ruling that Samsung had infringed on 4 Apple patents and had to compensate Apple for US$980 million.

Samsung has said it will appeal, arguing that this is not a victory for Apple, but may cause significant losses to American consumers.

Just one day later, the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea ruled that Apple had infringed on two Samsung patents and required compensation of US$120 million and banned the sale of Apple-related products in South Korea.

An Apple spokesperson also responded to South Korea's ruling, claiming that this is South Korea's local protectionism and seriously violates international trade rules, and will appeal.

The media just implicitly praised the report that three mobile phone companies joined forces to challenge Qualcomm. In the blink of an eye, the compensation and the ban on sales from both sides inevitably made people feel speechless, and it also made people more intuitively see the complexity of business and patent competition. .

Samsung and Apple have been attacking each other for some time, and the judgments of the two places will not be used as the basis for final execution. However, can the three competing companies really work together to reverse Qualcomm's advantage?

This "sauce" has nothing to do with Qualcomm, but the stock price that has fallen these days has been affected by it and has recovered.

No matter how you look at it, alliances with different interest positions can easily be broken by differentiation, and investors in the secondary market also believe that Qualcomm will take correct and effective measures.

A week later, the interest in patent lawsuits and corporate competition has declined. The media has little interest in the lengthy litigation process. Except for financial, financial, and technology media, which continue to follow up, some persistent melon-eaters are always paying attention to the relevant situation. .

However, it has brought about a more interesting discussion in China.

In the second half of this year, following the dispute between Yike and Sony, it also clearly clashed with Qualcomm. It is true that every opponent is not an unknown person. And taking stock further, the companies that Yike has competed with in the past few years are very famous.

"Yike plays high-end games. Who is Yike's strongest opponent since his debut? Who is Mr. Fang's strongest opponent since his debut?"

Zhihu took advantage of the fact that Yusanjia’s challenge to Qualcomm has not completely subsided, and raised this question.

After careful calculation, Yike's debut music player was indeed aimed at Sony. Sony was not far from its peak at that time, but Mr. Fang... he was very capable before Yike.

"Although Yike is playing a high-end game, it's not that there are no other opponents. It's just that those small and medium-sized opponents who have no sense of existence were crushed and disappeared silently."

"Yike has frequently collided with other giant companies in recent years, but I have a pretty good impression of Yike. I can only say that when it grows to this size, it will inevitably have to compete with other companies for cake. To a certain extent, Everything can’t be decided by Mr. Fang, he drives Yike, and Yike drives him.”

"The strongest opponent? Nominate Nokia. When it was the strongest in the global market, it accounted for nearly half of the market share. However, the Yike mobile phone, as its name suggests, crashed into Nokia like Mars hitting the earth! Mars drives the world In the innovation of mobile phones, although this patent competition with Qualcomm is also eye-catching, it is far less dangerous than the patent war with Nokia! That was really banned by the judgment! No one expected that it would eventually be whitewashed. overthrown!"

"Sony was a bit on the decline at the beginning, and Nokia was indeed more ruthless. However, although everyone generally criticized Penguin, Penguin was very strong in the instant messaging field, and almost no one thought it could be overthrown in this field. Yike is very strong, this is a fact that everyone agrees with, but even if it is as strong as Yike, it took almost two years and all resources and means were exhausted to finally establish Yixin's status."

"As a reminder, Alibaba is still the leader in the e-commerce field. Should Yike companies like Tesco be included in this?"

"To talk about Yike's system is too broad. Amazon's cloud computing is more than one step ahead, and Taiji is more than one generation ahead of Bingxin. Let's talk about Yike's own YMS. Although it has done a lot of business, it is not always the best. It’s so strong, even if it’s something like Duji, it still ranks first in domestic search share.”

Discussions about Yike's strongest rivals are complicated, but it is generally believed that "Nokia" and "Penguin" were mentioned. The double-kill short seller caused by the lawsuit between the former and Yike has had an impact to this day, and the overturned ruling seems to have completely wiped out Nokia. Off the stage, as for the latter, the entrenched core track has been scrambled for more than ten years, almost abruptly interrupting the giant's growth path from PC porting to mobile, which is also interesting to talk about.

When Fang Zhuo himself attended the event and was interviewed, I found it quite interesting to hear such questions and related comments.

"Yike's strongest rival, let me think about it, let me think about it." Fang Zhuo has never thought about the development of the company in this way. Speaking of Nokia, it was indeed dangerous that time, but there were also arrangements in advance, such as Sony, Penguin, etc. , seems to have no meaning.

He did not give his answer immediately, but just discussed and smiled: "No one mentioned Apple and Samsung? I have heard the name Yu Sanjia many times, and sometimes we talk about it within the company."

The reporter replied: "Some people have mentioned that compared with Yike, Apple lacks a leader, and Samsung is always similar to Yike and Apple. Its Trump this time has also exposed many problems, so everyone agrees. a bit less."

"Samsung's industrial chain is very complete, and Apple's products and ecology are also very competitive. I will answer this question when Yike's mobile phone will completely defeat these two companies." Fang Zhuo had no intuitive answer in his mind for a while, and turned to And asked the same series of questions, "And my strongest opponent? Is it Robin, Pony, Steve, Zhang Zhongtong or who?"

Each name is a leader in the industry and has had more or less exchanges with them.

The reporter couldn't help laughing when talking about this: "This issue has more disputes than the company's opponents, and there is no unified answer. Mr. Fang, if you were asked to name the name that gave you the most pressure, who would you think of first? "

Many names flashed through Fang Zhuo's mind for a moment, but the next moment he blurted out one name: "President Xiong from IDG."

The reporter was curious: "Why, can Mr. Fang tell you the reason?"

He knew that Xiong Xiaoge once led a venture capital firm to besiege the other president. However, in the storms that Mr. Fang had encountered in recent years, there were many celebrities and giants, and there were even more short-selling and counter-shorting brought about by Nokia. The paradox is, how could this person blurt it out?

"Like Penguin's Pony, he is very powerful, but even if Yixin fails, it will only lose the resources and time we invested, and will not affect the main development of Yike. Like Alibaba's Ma Ren, our Tesco and Taobao will eventually There are differences in models, and there is no rush to fall behind. What’s more, the future is already planned, and the others are similar. Well, Taiwan Journalist Zhang Zhongmo is also very good, but Bing Xin is more comparing himself with himself, every time Every year’s progress is gratifying.”

"Only at that stage, our medical department was facing a crisis, and Yike's products had not yet achieved much success. If I let Mr. Xiong mess with me at that time, the situation would really be a mess."

Fang Zhuo explained his thoughts from this perspective and recalled the past situation with emotion: "Mr. Xiong was very angry at that time, but he is a good person. He is willing to admit defeat. I really feel that I lost with such a move. He accepted the half pose, but some people couldn't do it, and even punctured my car's tires at that time."

When he said this, he smiled.

To this day, the events of that year have gradually become hazy, and I will not remember that Liao Yong of Sequoia asked someone to puncture his tires, but now that things have changed, it is quite interesting to think about it.

The head of Yike personally answered the reporter's questions, but his answer was not very convincing to the masses.

He is just Fang Zhuo, what does he know about Yike and Mr. Fang?

However, as the Zhihu topic became more popular, someone took the opportunity to sneak in and raised a question about class mirroring.

——Who is Li Guoqing’s strongest opponent since his debut?

Then, the person involved opened his trumpet and answered the question personally: Fang Zhuo.

This question and answer made many people laugh and like it, which in turn inspired more similar questions. Who is the strongest opponent of Duan Yongji, Xiong Xiaoge, Ma Huateng, Li Yanhong, Stringer, Nokia... .

Questions are queued, and so are answers.

Fang Zhuo, Fang Zhuo, Fang Zhuo!

When Xiong Xiaoge, who was far away in Japan, called to communicate with Mr. Fang about Nikon's progress, he couldn't help but complain: "Look how many people you have harmed! And, I'm not telling you, the reporter asked a stupid question, Just stop dragging me out, why are you giving me a trophy after you tricked me?"

"If a reporter asks that, I will tell the truth." Fang Zhuo said confidently, "There is nothing that cannot be said to others. There is nothing that cannot be said."

"It's no wonder that Jacob from Qualcomm turned around and sent you a message after hearing what the Intel executives said." Xiong Xiaoge is also paying attention to patent litigation. He learned about this matter when he made a phone call a few days ago, and now he brings it up and adds it to the story. criticize.

Fang Zhuo was confused: "What does that have to do with this?"

"Have you ever watched "Dragon Movie"? Xu Zhu was revealed to have his biological father at the entrance of the Shaolin Temple. Everyone turned to look at Duan Zhengchun in unison. This is word of mouth." Xiong Xiaoge mocked, "Put this word of mouth here. Jacob was too lazy to talk to Intel the first time, so he had to find you.”

When Fang Zhuo heard this, he felt a faint feeling of recognition.

However, never fall into the self-certification trap!

He said: "If you ask me to get Nikon, you will either call me to ask about the search or the Qualcomm lawsuit. Where is Nikon's semiconductor company? Where is the company? If you can't do it, you should tell me earlier. I regret asking you now. If I did, Wang Fengyi, maybe now I will go to Singapore to inspect the new company with a smile!"

"At the end of this month!" Xiong Xiaoge raised his voice, "There's no way it can be until next year."

Regarding the matter of IDG pulling international and Japanese venture capital to promote the divestment of Nikon Semiconductor, Xiong Xiaoge has been busy for a year. Objectively speaking, this matter is indeed difficult, and the continued downturn of Japanese companies this year has shaken Nikon’s considerations and final decision. Lighten the baggage.

As for this IDG, everyone knows who is behind Xiong Xiaoge. It is nothing more than Ice Core actively looking for a way, but this is not important to Nikon, as long as the beautiful knife can be in place. On the contrary, the Ice Core gloves that are in urgent need may be better. Provide funds readily.

As for the lessons learned from Sony Sensor Company not long ago, Nikon has also conducted intensive research. First, the industry environment of semiconductor industry equipment is different after all. Second, it will clearly isolate operating rights and R\u0026D locations, so that Sony’s tragedy will not happen again. .

Xiong Xiaoge half-heartedly agreed to Nikon's covert demands. He could naturally tell what the other party was planning. However... this time it was completely different from Sony's.

The old devil's money is only for people to see, not for their use. He will not really invest money at all.

Xiong Xiaoge compared Sony and Nikon before and after, and couldn't help complaining in her heart. Sony was willing to pay for it, but Nikon didn't even pay for it...

"At the end of the month... no, it's too soon." When Fang Zhuo heard the clear time, he made a mental calculation and said decisively, "You push it to January."

Xiong Xiaoge almost exploded: "Things have basically been discussed, and I'm not alone. SoftBank's Masayoshi Son has also decided on the time."

"It doesn't matter how you come up with excuses, it doesn't matter how much time you have." Fang Zhuo insisted.

When Xiong Xiaoge heard what Lao Mo said, he quickly calmed down and asked, "Are you looking for media promoters or what?"

"Everyone has it, including the company in Singapore. It will take more time to go through the process. It will soon be determined whether Temasek can be brought in, which will add another layer of endorsement." Fang Zhuo said, "Kong Yu When I fly to Japan in a few days, you can review the situation again, and since you have to do it, do your best to do it well."

Temasek is an investment company of the Singapore government. It actually welcomes investments from companies such as Yike and Bingxin. Of course, Singapore also has export and technology licensing issues, but it is just a matter of turning a blind eye. In the past, anyway, as far as it was concerned, the company was on the mainland.

Singapore itself has a very good semiconductor industry. Companies such as Infineon, Intel, and STMicroelectronics have set up regional headquarters here, while OEMs such as Taiji and UMC have also acquired land to build factories.

This is an important reason why Bingxin chose to attract R\u0026D talents here.

Xiong Xiaoge agreed anyway, and this time he spent so much time as a favor to President Fang for jointly investing in the acquisition of IDG Group.

Nikon's PPT machine production has been slightly postponed. Xiong Xiaoge sometimes wonders in Japan whether the exposure of Nikon's stuff will lead to the existence of antibodies here. After the previous wave of fraud by Japanese companies, new ones have appeared one after another here. Craftsman has actually become a bit of a tradition.

Not only Xiong Xiaoge, but also Japan's own media lamented that such exposed and unconcealed fraud involves so many big companies, and I don't know what other activities are being done in the shadows.

On the first weekend of December, there is only half a month left before the end of 2013.

On this day, Fang Zhuo communicated on some unconventional matters, and then received another call from Jacob, the head of Qualcomm. Compared with the implicit warning last time, his attitude softened a lot this time and offered to fly in. Shen Cheng discussed the deadlock between the two sides face to face.

"Now that this is the case, unless Qualcomm is willing to return to a reasonable licensing model, there is no need for us to meet. Yike and I both have this attitude and it will never change. Both Qualcomm and you should return to the right position. .”

Fang Zhuo's phone call was very brief. After he finished the call to express his position, he transferred the recording to Cook and Lee Jae-yong.

At this stage, he believes that it is still necessary to unify their stance. Anyway, if Apple and Samsung cannot understand the situation clearly, Yike has already integrated the baseband chip into Mars.

It depends on how they weigh whether Yike is short-sighted or short-sighted.

Facts have proven that the opportunity to end Qualcomm’s tyrannical monopoly is still very tempting. In other words, this is a business that is easy to settle, either to obtain Qualcomm’s benefit concessions in a short period of time, or to end unreasonable authorization in the long term. mechanism.

The latter is obviously the most cost-effective.

In the next week, Fang Zhuo also received call recordings from Cook and Lee Jae-yong one after another. It seemed that... there was really no trust between everyone, and they could only use Jacob's recording to maintain a certain level of tacit understanding.

The Yusan family silently maintained a tough stance, which was really beyond Jacob's expectation.

From beginning to end, one of Jacob’s most basic judgments is that it is a bargaining tool! Negotiation tool!

This is just the way manufacturers want to negotiate prices!

It’s nothing more than transfer of benefits, nothing more than lowering the price!

If it doesn't work, Qualcomm will just lower it a bit. It will ask for a lot of money and pay back the money. Yusanjia does have a market position that is sufficient to negotiate prices.

However, from Yike to Apple to Samsung, each company even rejected its own request for an interview, which made Jacob shudder.

In the third week of December, Qualcomm's public relations actions appeared. Vice President Mollenkopf said in an interview with the media, "The current situation is that we are already negotiating with partners who have objections and have made progress. It is likely that a settlement will be reached quickly."

"In fact, judging from traditional cases, litigation is not a manifestation of intensification of conflicts, but creates an environment for both parties to change their respective views. Qualcomm is not worried about litigation."

"Things are already being discussed. Qualcomm has been innovating and contributing to the development of the industry. Our partners also recognize this. We are confident that we will continue to lead the industry forward."

Mollenkopf vowed in front of the media, and CEO Jacobs quickly hinted at a similar situation on other occasions.

Already talking about it! Nice talk! Close to reconciliation!

As for who it is, there is anyway.

This public relations move had some effects. At the very least, Qualcomm's stock climbed slightly, and it also implicitly played a role in casting suspicion on many challengers with different positions.

Not only Yusanjia is standing out this time, but also small and medium-sized brands and OEMs.

There is no doubt that everyone knows that the Yusan family must have privileges with Qualcomm, and there must be negotiations. Could it be that they negotiated a settlement, and Qualcomm changed hands and added the losses to itself...

Think about it, what good things can giants have!

At this juncture, Yike gave a clear response. The company spokesperson directly held a press conference to formally report the lawsuit and clarify relevant rumors.

"Recent reports that Yike will settle with Qualcomm are false, and there has been no substantial progress in negotiations between the two companies."

"Yike Company can tell you frankly that the goal of Yike's lawsuit this time is to cancel Qualcomm's unreasonable patent authorization and require Qualcomm to use industry standard essential patents in accordance with the FRAND principle of 'fairness, reasonableness and non-discrimination'."

"We don't know which companies Qualcomm has negotiated with, or which companies are considering settlement. We only know that there is no Yike involved."

Yike seriously stated its position and demands, directly attacking Qualcomm's ambiguity.

It doesn’t matter who you are, I’m not here anyway.

Fang Zhuo reposted the company's statement on Twitter without comment, only giving it a "√".

A rare and rare act of consistent action led to imitation.

Within three days, Apple and Samsung also issued similar statements to clarify related rumors. They were not among the companies that were close to settling with Qualcomm.

Most of the ambiguity and ambiguity were shattered, which brought more doubts. Is Qualcomm lying?

Hon Hai stated in a low-key manner that the lawsuit has just begun, everything is in compliance with legal procedures, and there is no progress in settlement.

Wistron did not inform the industry through the media, but informed Yike, Apple, and Samsung of the situation, and it did not negotiate with Qualcomm itself.

Luxshare went to Mr. Fang’s Twitter to comment, and directly copied “√” to reprint the statement and express its position.

According to the media summary, all companies involved in the lawsuit have clearly stated that there is no settlement at this stage. So... why did Qualcomm disclose the news in such a high-profile manner?

CEO Jacob, who personally stepped forward to conduct public relations this time, was criticized. Not only did he fail to play a role, but he was regarded by the media as a stupid move.

Some people are scared, so scared that they even lie to cover up the situation.

What's this?

This is lust and inner lust!

Jacob did not expect to encounter such a situation. He only had one feeling in his heart. Damn it, Fang really wants Qualcomm to die!

It’s not a bargaining tool, it’s not just sitting around and paying back money!

Jacob was completely awakened. The man named Fang was sharpening his knife, and the tip of the knife was already at his throat!